Beef Chow Fun (Beef & Noodles Stir Fry)

It’s no secret that I happen to believe I live in the best neighborhood on earth. But a little known fact on the blog is that I also believe I live next to a Chinese restaurant with the best takeout on earth. Let’s just say…they know me there by name.

Yes. Lest anyone thik that I live in this magical food blogging land of 100% homemade meals, allow me to set the story straight. I love to cook. But I also really love it when other people — or restaurants — cook for me. All the better if that food includes some form of chips and salsa, masala, or noodles. And when I’m craving the latter, you’d better believe I have my neighborhood Chinese restaurant on speed dial.

My order history there would show that I tend to stay loyal to a handful of favorite dishes. Fried rice is a must. Anything moo shoo is always a winner. And egg drop soup is a given with any order. But this winter while I’m shying away from gluten and sugar, I have been rekindling my love for an old favorite I used to love — Beef Chow Fun. Also known as Gon Chow Ngau Ho. For anyone unfamiliar with the name, don’t be intimidated. It’s basically the Cantonese version of good ol’ beef and noodles. It’s full of great flavor. And oh man, it always hits the spot.

So while I will forever be a fan of ordering it as takeout, this winter I decided it was time to learn how to make my beloved beef chow fun homemade. You know, for “fun”. To see if I could do it. As it turns out, I could and I was shocked at how easy this dish actually was to make. You’ve totally got to try it.

Well first off, for anyone who has ever wondered about the behind-the-scenes look at a food blog, here’s a little peek at the behind the scenes of my lunch break.

Beef chow fun + egg drop soup + La Croix + The Good Wife on Hulu.

My kind of lunch.

And here’s my homemade version. Pretty dang close, I must say. And SO GOOD.

To make the dish, begin by tracking down some rice noodles. Traditionally this dish is made with varying widths of “wide” rice noodles, but any will do. Cook them up according to package instructions, and then set them aside. (I boiled mine for a few minutes and then submerged them in ice water to stop the cooking process.)

Then in a separate pan, brown up your marinated beef. Remove and set it aside.

Then cook up those onions in the same pan. My Chinese restaurant uses both white and green onions, which I happen to love. But you can choose one or the other if you’d like.

Then add everything together along with the sauce in a skillet or wok, and stir fry it a bit more to meld all of those tasty ingredients.

Beef Chow Fun (Beef & Noodle Stir Fry)

Traditional beef chow fun (a beef and noodle stir-fry) is surprisingly quick and easy to make at home, and so flavorful and delicious!

Total Time:20 mins

Prep Time:10 mins

Cook Time:10 mins

Ingredients:

Chow Fun Ingredients

7 ounces uncooked wide rice noodles

2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or any high heat oil)

8 ounces flank steak, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 white onion, peeled and sliced

4 ounces mung bean sprouts

4 green onions (scallions), sliced into 2-inch pieces

1 teaspoon sesame oil

salt and white pepper, to taste

Marinade

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 tablespoons (regular) soy sauce*

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger ( or ½ teaspoon dry ginger)

1 teaspoon Sriracha (or more/less to taste)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Cook noodles according to package directions. Transfer to an ice bath and stir until chilled. Set aside.

Whisk together all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Pour half the marinade mixture on the beef and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes, or up to 8 hours. Refrigerate the second half of the marinade as well.

When you’re ready to cook the dish, heat oil in a large skillet or wok over high heat. Remove the beef from its marinade with a slotted spoon, and add it to the pan. Sear until browned, turning once or twice so that all sides cook evenly, about 1-2 minutes. Transfer the beef to a separate plate with a slotted spoon and set aside. In the hot pan, add the white onions and stir fry for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Add the bean sprouts and stir-fry an additional 1 minute.

Add the second half of the marinade, the noodles and the beef to the pan. Stir fry for 1 minute, tossing occasionally to combine. Add the green onions and sesame oil and stir fry for 1 more minute, tossing occasionally to combine. Season with additional salt and white pepper (and Sriracha) if needed.

Looks amazing! However, ‘chow fun’ stands for fried rice not fried noodles. The word for fried noodles is actually ‘chow mai fun’. I’m from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – so my cantonese is not perfect but this, I know. (A lot of sites get this wrong, especially those not from the asian region)

I cannot tell I lie…I have never even had Beef Chow Fun!
But, I will always eat something that has “fun” in the name. And anything Asian takeout fakeout really.
Can’t wait to try this delicious yummness! Pinned!

It looks pretty much as perfect as can be! You’re my go to girl for fabulous pasta recipes. Meanwhile, let me know when the next house goes on the market in your neighborhood; I’m ready to drop everything and go :)

I think maybe I screwed this up, because it came out just too salty. I couldn’t find any “dark” soy sauce at the store (I’ve never heard of it, actually), so I just used four T of regular soy sauce. The flavor of the steak was really good, but the whole thing together was too salty for me. Maybe I should have left out the salt from the marinade or used low sodium soy sauce, I dunno. My husband, FWIW, didn’t agree on the saltiness and polished off his plate and the leftovers.

Good recipe but you should not add the baking soda to the full marinade. You should make the marinade less the baking soda, measure out half, then add the soda to the beef and half of the marinade. The marinade’s purpose is to act as a unique tenderizer for the meat and does little good for the flavor (which is why most U.S. modified recipes leave it out).

This was DELICIOUS! (I used 1/4 tsp of the sriracha because I have one very picky eater who does not like anything spicy) But even she loved it! This will definitely be added to our household recipe book. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes! :-)

Pardon my ignorance but is there any reason for reicpes always calling for ‘mung’ bean sprouts? My grocer has never heard of them. She only gets ‘bean sprouts’ in – the same kind you see on the Hibachi buffets at the Chinese restaurants. Are those MUNG bean sprouts? If so what other types are there? Because you have my curiosity piqued. And if there aren’t, then why bother always referring to them as mung when just bean sprouts would do? Thus my confusion.